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The Certified Horsemanship Association has several certification clinics scheduled throughout the U.S. and Canada in 2016. Auditing also is available. CHA offers a curriculum to be a standard instructor in English and/or Western disciplines, or an equine facility manager, overnight trail guide, day-ride trail guide, combined instructor/trail guide, instructor of riders with disabilities, seasonal equestrian staff, driving instructor, recreational or commercial driver, or a vaulting coach. As the largest equine professional certifying organization in North America, CHA has been in existence for almost 50 years and has certified more than 25,000 instructors and equine facility managers.

Those seeking certification will go through a multi-day intensive certification clinic where they must pass written tests, be evaluated by two CHA clinic instructors (and other clinic attendees), and attend in-depth workshops on risk management, ethics, teaching techniques and more. CHA instructors are tested on five important areas: safety, horsemanship knowledge and ability, teaching techniques, group control, and professionalism. Clinic attendees receive all educational manuals and materials, CHA membership, and certification fees as part of the clinic fee. Horses, tack and arena equipment are provided by the host sites. (Anyone interested in hosting a CHA clinic to raise money for their equine facility, please contact office@CHA-ahse.org and put “Host a Clinic” in the subject line.)

All Discipline Standard English/Western Clinics are already on the calendar for 23 states, and more are being added each day: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. In Canada, clinics are scheduled in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia. To see the clinic schedule, please visit http://www.CHAinstructors.com/clinics.

Equine Facility Managers have clinics they can attend at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas; at Houghton College in Houghton, New York; at Victory Therapy Center in Roanoke, Texas; and at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For those who offer summer programs, now is a perfect time for staff to become professionally certified before the summer rush starts.

Instructors who receive a certification become more valuable to their employer and their students. The benefits for certification include:

• Insurance discounts
• Marketing opportunities through CHA
• Employment options
• The ability to network at professional events
• The chance to attend continuing educational events
• Shows customers and potential customers that you are a professional committed to meeting high professional standards
• Shows customers that you know how to teach up to the level you are certified at in a safe, fun, and effective manner

For more information on the benefits, read CHA’s blog post, “Why You Should Find a Certified Riding Instructor”.

For more information on attending a CHA Certification Clinic, click here. To learn what to expect at a certification clinic and how to prepare, click here.

If a certain type of clinic is not yet listed, please contact a regional director and/or state or provincial representative here about potential future clinics or to offer to host one, or contact CHA Program Director Polly Haselton Barger at pbarger@CHA-ahse.org.

For questions, call CHA in Lexington, Kentucky, at 859-259-3399, email info@CHA-ahse.org, or visit www.cha-ahse.org/.

-- via CHA